- January 21, 2026
- Posted by: editor
- Category: Uncategorized
Dynamics 365 Duplicate Detection feature in Dynamics 365 is designed to help maintain data quality by identifying and preventing the creation of duplicate records such as contacts, accounts, leads and other tables. Many organizations experience situations where duplicate detection rules, but rules can’t work, means it can’t give a warning message and sometimes duplicate record save without any alerts. That’s why it creates a problem like poor data quality and it creates confusion. In this blog, we understand why duplicate detection is not working properly, and we will guide you step-by-step to fix the duplicate detection.
What Is Duplicate Detection in Dynamics 365?
Duplicate detection in Dynamics 365 is a data quality feature that identifies and prevents duplicate records like leads and accounts. We create many accounts with the same phone number, email and company name , leading to data inconsistency. Why is duplicate detection used in Dynamics 365 because it helps maintain clean and accurate data, reduces confusion, and ensures sales and marketing teams work with reliable information.
How Duplicate Detection Rules Work?
It works in different ways like: it identifies the duplicate criteria ( same email, and same organization). Then it compares the new or updated records, they find the same identity and then it doing action means it protects the save record and generates a report for review and edit. Duplicate detection identifies the record in two ways which is.
| Real-Time Duplicate Detection | Scheduled Duplicate Detection |
| Check the records on time when a user creates or updates a record. | It works manually or on demand. |
| Triggered when the user clicks Save. | Scan all records in bulk. |
| Displays a warning if a duplicate is found. | It identifies duplicates and generates a duplicate detection report. |
| For example: If a user creates a new contact using an email address that already exists, Dynamics 365 displays a “Duplicate record detected” message. | For Example: If your system contains 10,000 contact records, a scheduled duplicate detection job can analyze all records and identify potential duplicates for review and cleanup. |
Common Reasons Dynamics 365 Duplicate Detection Is Not Working
Duplicate Detection Is Disabled
Duplicate detection must be enabled at both the organization level and table (entity) level. So first of all check if duplicate detection is disabled at the organization level, it will not work for any table. If enabled at the organization level but disabled for a specific table such as Account or Contact,then duplicate detection will not work for that table. To check it, go to Settings → Data Management → Duplicate Detection Settings.
Duplicate Detection Rules Are Not Published
Duplicate detection rules must be explicitly published to become active. But drafted or inactive rules do not run. Only Published rules are applied during record creation, updates, imports, or detection jobs. How to check if a duplicate detection rule is active or not?
- Go to Settings → Data Management → Duplicate Detection Rules.
- Open the rule.
- Their left side status opens it showing active/ published, it means rules are working, showing inactive means is not working properly.
Duplicate Detection Not Triggering on Create or Update
Duplicate detection flows the three steps which is.
- Matching Rule: How to identify the duplicate record.
- Duplicate Rule: What action to take.
- Detection Mode: User saves the record, that time it checks the duplicate data.
If duplicate detection is not triggering on create or update, check the points which are mentioned in the below.
- Detect duplicates during record creation or update → shows real-time warnings
- To enable real-time alerts, ensure Create and Update options are selected in the rule.
Users Have “Bypass Duplicate Detection Rules” Privilege
Bypass duplicate rules is permission available by user, it means duplicate detection not working, if the rules are active or not.
Check:
- Security Role → Core Records → Bypass Duplicate Detection Rules
- If enabled, duplicate detection warnings will not appear for that user.
User Access and Record Visibility
- Duplicate detection respects security and sharing rules.
- If a user does not have access to the matching record, the system may not detect it as a duplicate.
Matching Rule Configuration Issues
- Duplicate detection depends on correct field mapping.
- It happens when an incorrect field is selected such as the wrong email field.
- Fields contain inconsistent formats.
- Matching fields are blank.
For example
- Email vs Alternate Email → no match.
- Blank fields → cannot be compared.
Duplicate Detection Not Working for Imports
Duplicate detection works during imports and requires specific configuration. Check the following.
- Duplicate detection rules are Published
- Matching fields exist and are populated in the import file.
- Enable Duplicate Detection checkbox is selected in the Import Wizard.
- Import is not configured to ignore duplicates.
- Bulk imports may impact performance, but detection still works if enabled correctly.
Data Formatting and Matching Issues
- Duplicate detection may fail due to inconsistent phone number formats (e.g., 9876543210 vs +91-9876543210).
- Variations in data entry.
- Blank or null values.
- Different fields storing similar data.
How to Fix Duplicate Detection Not Working in Dynamics 365 ?
Below we provide steps to fix Dynamics 365 duplicate detection not working problems.
Enable Duplicate Detection System Settings
- Sign – in to power apps or Dynamics 365.
- Go to Setting, Click the right corner, there show gear icon and Select the advanced setting.
- Open the Setting → Administration → System Settings.
- Open the duplicate detection tab, open the system setting window.
- Enable the duplicate detection set the yes to all option.
- On the right click the save button, it means duplicate detection is successfully enabled.
Verify Entity-Level Duplicate Detection Settings
Even if duplicate detection is enabled system-wide, it must also be enabled for specific tables.
Check the following:
- Duplicate detection is enabled for required tables (Account, Contact, Lead, etc.)
- Relevant duplicate detection rules exist for those tables.
- Rules are Published.
- Enabling duplicate detection alone is not enough—rules must be created and published.
Publish Duplicate Detection Rules
In Dynamics 365 publishing a rule makes it active. There is no separate activation step but best practice is to go to Sandbox → Test → Publish → Production.
Common mistakes
- Rule is saved as Draft, not Published
- Rule created for the wrong table
- Create/Update detection options not selected
- Rules tested directly in Production without sandbox validation
Review Detection Behavior (Create / Update / Report)
- Check the rule configuration such as detect duplicates during record creation, during record update and report-only rules do not show real-time warnings.
- To get real-time alerts, ensure Create and Update options are enabled.
Check Security Roles and User Privileges
Security Roles mean users what to do? like users see the data, it creates the data and analyzes/ edits the data. In the other words admin has full access to his data, but users have limited access.
User privileges means specific permissions bypass duplicate detection rules and if enabled, users can save duplicates even when rules exist. How to check security roles ? use this steps
- User profile → Assigned security roles.
- Core Records → Bypass Duplicate Detection Rules.
Access levels
- None : no access
- User : only personal data
- Organization : all systems
Test Duplicate Detection Using Sample Records
The real time data for testing means the same record as an exact copy but there are some changes like spelling mistakes and typing etc. Test duplicate detection with controlled examples:
- Same email and phone number.
- Uppercase vs lowercase emails.
- Extra spaces or symbols.
- Slight name variations.
- Invalid or blank values.
- Bulk record imports (test performance).
Review Existing Duplicate Records
Duplicate detection does not automatically clean existing data.
To address this:
- Run Duplicate Detection Jobs.
- Review duplicate reports.
- Merge or delete duplicate records manually.
Conclusion
In this blog, we discuss the duplicate detection not working in Dynamics 365 and its solution, enable the duplicate detection rules. Verify if the duplicate detection options are activated or not, because the rules are skipped and we change after some time, that’s why read the detection rules again and again. I hope this information clears all doubts , if you have any doubt please tell me in the comment box.